Choosing the ideal starting specialization in Star Wars Zero Company can be daunting for new players, but fortunately, significant flexibility exists. Players can change their class specialization as early as Cycle 3, and later can even alter the specializations and talents of hired operators. The only aspect that cannot be altered are the talents of named characters, such as Hawk's Fearless Leader.

Recommended Starting Specialization

The Scoundrel specialization is recommended as the best starting class. Its abilities focus on making enemies vulnerable for guaranteed critical hits, penetrating defenses, and increasing assist damage. This synergizes well with Hawk's Fearless Leader talent, which boosts squad assist damage when Hawk is present. Assists are potent as they are free attacks that also generate advantage.

While dual Scoundrels are not detrimental, especially with Hawk's buffs, players seeking to avoid overlapping with the initial companions—Scoundrel (Kabb), Soldier (Trick), and Assault (Jae)—have other options. The Gunslinger, Sharpshooter, and Heavy specializations are viable alternatives. The Gunslinger is highlighted as a strong early choice due to its capacity to finish off multiple enemies, thereby gaining more advantage and general ranged attack buffs. In contrast, the Sharpshooter is more focused on single targets, which can feel restrictive against non-boss enemies. The Heavy class adopts a more passive playstyle, centered on absorbing and retaliating damage, and performs better with talents like Taunt or Anticipation to manage incoming attacks.

The Medic and Scout specializations are generally not recommended for beginners. Medic is often overkill in early combat encounters, which are typically not overly challenging, and the Scout class is primarily for advantage farming, which is less of a concern in the initial missions.

Understanding Operator Talents

When players unlock recruitable operators, they will find that each possesses both a class and a talent. Both can be respecced in the change specialization menu after recruitment, suggesting that recruiting a character based on appearance rather than their initial talent is a viable strategy. Some talents exhibit strong synergy with specific Zero Company specializations.

There are ten available talents for recruitable operators:

  • The Bigger They Are…: Ranged and melee attacks deal bonus damage to elite and boss enemies.
  • Anticipation: Grants evasion stacks, allowing the operator to evade the next attack, usable once per turn.
  • Cold-Blooded: Applies a stack of viciousness to the operator, guaranteeing their next attack is a critical hit, usable once per combat.
  • Taunt: Forces a selected enemy to target the operator, usable once per turn.
  • A Life of Labor: Provides bonus health and defense.
  • Thievery: Earns additional credits upon mission completion.
  • Sabotage: Triggers explosive objects on the battlefield.
  • Espionage: Earns additional intel rewards upon mission completion.
  • Grit: Applies invulnerability stacks to prevent damage from the next attack, also increasing health, usable once per turn.
  • Fortitude: Increases defense when the operator is injured.

Top Talent Synergies

Talents like A Life of Labor, Anticipation, and Grit are considered top-tier due to their broad utility. A Life of Labor offers general stat increases beneficial to most classes, while Anticipation and Grit provide damage mitigation. Anticipation, at its highest level, allows dodging up to three attacks per turn.

Specific synergies exist between certain classes and talents. The Heavy class, designed to withstand damage, benefits greatly from Taunt, Anticipation, or Grit. Sharpshooters, focused on single targets, can pair Cold-Blooded with their guaranteed hit ability for critical strikes, or The Bigger They Are… to improve their effectiveness against elite enemies.

Support-oriented classes like Medic or Scout can gain survivability when performing actions such as reviving allies through Anticipation, or they can be utilized for resource acquisition with Thievery or Espionage. The Sabotage talent can be given to Scouts for a situational but thematic explosive deployment before combat.

Experimentation with specializations and talents is encouraged, as all Focus Points are refunded upon respecing, with the exception of those tied to a character's innate talent, meaning there is effectively no drawback to trying different builds.